Culture

Platforms: PC, OSX, (4.5/5).

“Congratulations! You have died.” What a positive spin Dungeons of Dredmor places on every conceivable game consequence. It's never “game over” in Gaslamp Games' dungeon crawler; every hero who is mauled to death by bats, or dissolves their own gastrointestinal tract by drinking an unidentified potion, represents a learning experience. Pick up the pieces, it says. Start again with a new hero and sharpen your decisions so you can do just a little bit better in our dynamically generated labyrinth.
 
Dungeons of Dredmor gifts the player an incredibly complex box of tricks. The sheer number of skills is overwhelming at first (there are at least half a dozen different kinds of tools for crafting and alchemy), but that's the whole point. Enjoyment comes from developing a strategy that must be quite unique to oneself. Start out with a conventional brutish fighter, and then maybe branch out a little with a touch of burglary. Or some psionics. Make the tough decision between mathemagic and Viking wizardry. These aren't passive numerical bonuses either, each skill point does something concrete and visible, so a fighter with extremely basic burglary skills could be noticeably different from a pure swordsman.
 
These RPG mechanics mix well with the game's stylish quirkiness and would have made for something special on their own. What makes Dugeons of Dredmore truly great is the way it handles consequence. You are encouraged to play “permadeath” which quashes reloading. If your character dies, he is totally, properly dead forever and there's no hope of his spontaneous resurrection a few moments earlier behind the stone doors. This creates an incredible sense of tension, this wonderful feeling whenever you have to weigh the likelihood of surviving any given situation. Do you really want to pull that lever? Really?